Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1955)

6 Motion Picture Daily Friday, June 3, 1955 "The Seven Year Itch" (Continued from page 1) loyalty to his wife and child, both away from home for the summer. The humor, which at times veers close to the bawdy side, remains on the whole good fun, a hilarious spoof at the predicament in which the imaginative Ewell finds himself. The tone of the picture is set early by the multi-colored patchwork of boxed credits, names and their roles flashing from different sections of the screen. The narrator opens, describing the Manhattan of pre-colonial times, when the Indians would send their families away to escape the summer heat. Then, the scene shifts to Grand Central station, where the modern version of the summer send-off is enacted, introducing Ewell and his family, his wife Evelyn Keyes and young son, Butch Bernard. Tom, pledging himself to a summer without cigarettes, cards and the corner saloon, has a tough time remaining the ascetic. Who else but Miss Monroe is occupying the second story of his converted duplex midtown New York apartment? IN a "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" sequence, strictly on the romantic level, he sees himself in varying roles of irresistibility to women. Thanks to his skill and pace all come off very well. Then, in reality, Miss Monroe comes down to his apartment for a drink, and as a young lady from Des Moines, innocent and yet not so innocent, his imagined irresistibility goes a bit awry. She would rather play chop-sticks than be swayed by Rachmaninoff's music, or Ewell's dreamed-of charms. The situation becomes further complicated when she spends the night in his apartment, lured by his airconditioning, a night quite innocent, much to family-man Ewell's relief. The above are the high-points of a jam-packed episodic plot, featuring sequences with a psychiatrist, Oscar Homolka, the janitor, Robert Strauss, the plumber, Victor Moore, and others. There are amusing sequences burlesquing the covers of pocket-size books. Ewell's job is with a publishing firm of cheap paper-bound editions. Also the beach scene from the picture "From Here to Eternity" comes in for the burlesque brush. Charles K. Feldman and Billy Wilder produce while Wilder directed and did the screenplay in conjunction with George Axelrod, the playwright. Others in the cast include Sonny Tufts, Marguerite Chapman, Roxanne, Donald MacBride, Carolyn Jones, Doro Merando and Dorothy Ford. Running time, 105 minutes. Adult classification. For June release. Murray Horowitz Senate Group (Continued from page 1) industry was filed last year, and a report on the television industry is due shortly. "The profound influence of the movies on behavior of the youth of our nation has been noted by many social scientists," Kefauver declared today. "In our television hearings, it was indicated that the excess of crime and violence shown on the television screen tended to make a child immune to human suffering and could lead to delinquency. "In our study of the motion picture industry, we will also consider the effect of motion picture advertising and promotion and its influence on juvenile conduct. Industry to Assist "Officials of the industry will assist us in examining their code with an eye toward evaluating the code in the light of the effect of crime and horror motion pictures on juvenile conduct." The subcommittee staff has been examining film pressbooks and has held numerous conversations with Production and Advertising Code officials. Members of the subcommittee, in addition to Kefauver, are Senators Daniel (D., Tex.), Hennings (D., Mo.), Langer (R., N. D.) and Wiley (R., Wise). Skouras Address Spyros P. Skouras, president of 20th Century-Fox, and honorary chairman for the fund raising drive of New York Medical College at Flower of Fifth Avenue Hospital here, delivered an address at a fund-raising dinner last night. The Medical College is seeking to raise $1,000,000. THEY DON'T COME ANY BIGGER THAN from Columbia Harry Buckley (Continued from page 1) the old film agreement which expired tively inactive since spending his winters in Arizona and traveling abroad, but remained a member of the U. A. T. C. board of directors and attended one of its meetings here in the last week. He was one of the original U. A. T. C. stockholders and remained one of its largest stockholders up to the time of his death. His health suffered a setback about a year ago, although he had taken treatments tor high blood pressure at Duke University previously. He was stricken a few days ago while visiting Joseph M. Schenck in the latter' s hotel apartment here, and was removed to St. Luke's Hospital. Buckley is survived by his wife, Florence. The couple had no children. Mrs. Buckley was related to Douglas Fairbanks. Funeral services and burial will be held in Buckley's native city, St. Louis. He started in theatre business there at the age of 21 as manager of the Garrick, later the Columbia Theatre. After service in World War I he was made Kansas City branch manager for the newly formed U. A., and later was transferred to the Los Angeles exchange as manager. He supervised road shows such as "Robin Hood" and "Thief of Bagdad" ; then became personal and business manager for Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, and subsequently a U. A. executive at the home office. Phonevision (Continued from page 1) Zenith last year with the Rola Co. of Melbourne, Australia. Zenith said that Korda plans to ask the British government to authorize subscription television. Poll Trophies (Continued from page 1) of the sketches within the next week in the exhibition hall of the Art Directors' Club, 115 East 40th Street. Other members of the sub-committee are Sam Roberts of 20th Century-Fox and Bill Gold of Warner Bros. Pictures. Krauss will arrange with the president of the Art Directors' Club to name a jury of nine eminent artists to select the five best sketches. A similar showing will be held later before the advertising and publicity directors of the major companies, who also will be asked to select the five sketches which in their opinion are the most appropriate. Secret Selections Each list will be kept secret until the next meeting of the full art directors committee at a date to be announced later. The following members of the art directors' committee attended the meeting and submitted sketches : L. A. Mezger of Buchanan & Co., Lou Clayman and Krauss of Monroe Greenthal & Co., Sam Roberts of 20th CenturyFox, Tony Gablik, free lance artist ; Henry Marcus of Loew's Theatres, and Bill Gold of Warner Bros. Pictures. Other members of the committee who were unable to be present are Victor Sedlow of 20th Century-Fox, Everett Walsh of Columbia Pictures and William Schneider of Donahue & Coe. 'Moonfleet' to Palace "Moonfleet," new M-G-M CinemaScope production in Eastman color and starring Stewart Granger, Viveca Lindfors and George Sanders will have its premiere New York showing at the RKO Palace on Broadway on June 24. Universal's "Ain't Misbehavin' " will follow on July 1. AB-PT (Continued from page 1) annual meet of AB-PT affiliate executives, to be held in September, Hyman explained. Within the next ten weeks, United Detroit Theatres will inaugurate a talent search contest in its key theatres. The contest will be capped by a grand final performance at Detroit's Michigan Theatre, progressing with tie-ups with radio and TV stations, and a trip to Hollywood for screen tests for the winners. Three Separate Plans Tri-States Theatres, headquartered in Des Moines, has launched three separate children and teen-age plans, featuring varying intermediate price scales, the formation of teen-age film clubs and merchant tie-ins with special children shows. Other features of the plan are tie-ups with a local discjockey radio program, the running of membership applications in local newspapers and winning the cooperation of the schools. After three weeks of the existence of the teen-age plan in Davenport, la., Henry Plude of the Capitol, commented that he always thought his theatre was getting all these teenagers, but the plan had convinced him that it was not so, adding that he and others now could readily see the need to go after this age group. Experiments Worthwhile AB-PT vice-president Hyman, in response to a question, explained that a wealth of material will be garnered from the experiments now being conducted by AB-PT affiliate circuits. This material, he went on, based on actual, practical experience rather than theory will be forwarded to production-distribution organizations in order to win their cooperation, in addition to being made available to the industry at the proper time. Indications are, Hyman continued, that there is not just one answer on how to build the "audience of the future," and the many approaches now being utilized should supply the best ones to follow for increased patronage by the youngsters. Superscope (Continued from page 1) sert the name of the film produced in the medium and the booking date. On return of this certificate to SuperScope, the exhibitor in the United States or Canada will be sent a check of $100 for the booking, the co-inventor of the Superscope process said. Lauds Jack Warner For Prize Proposal HOLLYWOOD, June 2. — Jack Warner, executive producer of Warner Brothers, was commended by the Writers Guild, West, for suggesting to the Pulitzer Prize Committee that it consider an annual award for screen writing, it was announced here today by Guild president Edmund Hartman. In a telegram to Warner, Hartman said!: "At a joint meeting of the Writers Guild of America, West, council and branch boards, a resolution was unanimously passed commending you for suggesting that a Pulitzer Prize be awarded annually for screen writing."